Various manufacturers have provided frame assemblies and equipment enclosures for storing demanding electronic equipment. Furthermore, many manufacturers have also provided frame assemblies for lighter duty applications, directed to different market segments.
In the past, with respect to equipment enclosures (commonly termed rack systems or rack assemblies), most such enclosures and frame assemblies were supplied by manufacturers in a fully assembled state and therefore required customization to comply with the needs of consumers. Consequently, costs for such enclosures increased significantly, and in an after-market sense, modification of such enclosures by consumers was difficult to achieve. Additionally the cost of shipping such finished enclosures was high because of their size.
Subsequently, certain knock-down components were offered in the market, which required tedious construction and specialized hardware and tools for constructing the knock-down components into a full enclosure. Amongst limitations that existed for such knock-down components were: size standardization, custom ordering for non-standard sized enclosures, assortment of parts needed for construction of the enclosure, time to construct the enclosure and strength considerations of the components and final enclosure.
Previously, the present inventor recognized the need for an improved system for constructing enclosures (otherwise termed frame assemblies, rack assemblies or rack systems in this application), and disclosed improved corner connectors for knock-down racks (see Toma, U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,962). Subsequently, the present inventor disclosed (see Toma, U.S. Pat. No. 6,962,262) improved corner connectors in combination with rail members and fasteners in a kit form which may be easily transported and provides all elements necessary for simple construction of a frame assembly, as well as other similar assemblies that make use of the improved corner connectors, rail members and fasteners as base elements of structures.
In many prior art electronic cabinets, racks and enclosures there are only vertical rack rails unlike the rack kit frame disclosed by the current inventor (see citations above). The rack kit frame disclosed by the current inventor also has horizontal front to back and left to right rail sets having one or more mounting holes. Additionally, most prior art electronic cabinets, racks and enclosures can only accommodate fastening of vertical rack rails to fully enclosed steel frames. Even open frame rack assemblies generally offer mounting holes only on vertical rack rails. In this respect, the current inventor's rack kit frame is unique because all three sets of rack rails have mounting holes along both legs of every rail making up the rack system.
However, while the current inventor's above described U.S. patents provided great flexibility in construction of rack systems wherein other substructures such as shelves could be integrated in the rack systems, it became evident that extensions in construction were highly desirable. However, such extensions should be highly durable, provide a suitably rigid final structural assembly and be easily installed in an existing rack system or rack assembly.
A number of disclosures show extension elements for various assemblies (see for example, Haworth, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,959; Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 6,353,542; Mayer, U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,939; Hegrenes et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,783; Williams et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,655,534; Haney, U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,037; and Gray, U.S. Patent Application 2003/00198424). However, none of these extensions provide the desired rigidity and ease of installation.
Thus, improved and versatile support systems with enhanced loading capabilities and methods for assembling various components of the support systems is highly desirable.